20 November 2022
We were very fortunate to have a lot of rain on the Saturday but had a very warm and sunny Sunday morning. We were 12 birders from around Durban that met at 05h30 at River Glen (Ballito). [River Glen belongs to Johnny de Beer one of our members and he kindly hosted the club at the property for one of our birding adventures]. By 06h00 we were walking on the trails and did a 2km walk along riverine forest with a small area of grasslands for our birding.
Thank you to Dave Rimmer and Rob McLennan-Smith who helped lead the group and with bird identifications.
There was a Crowned Eagle on the nest, it was lying very flat and so we could only see its tail feathers. We did have a surprise with a first time Pygmy Kingfisher sighting at River Glen. We were also fortunate to see the Half-collared Kingfisher.
We had a brief view of a male Narina Trogon while the other species included in the list were the common forest bird species which were out enjoying the sun after the rain. At around 10h00 we returned to the homestead for coffee and snacks and Dave Rimmer continued with birding, he was fortunate to find some good views of a Gorgeous Bushshrike before heading home.
We also enjoyed the view of a Green Mamba basking in the sun after a meal, which was very unusual so far inland from the coast.
I just want to thank all those who came, I appreciated their contribution and the knowledge that they imparted to me.
I look forward to hosting another birding excursion at River Glen next year.
The group logged 67 different species.
Written by John de Beer
